The Sleepless Nights
by PJ XD
Summary: Originally a one-shot. Teddy and Victoire through a number of sleepless nights in their teenage years. Fluff. Post DH.
1. Teddy's First Day

Eleven year old Teddy Lupin was tossing and turning as he tried desperately to fall asleep, but he had no luck whatsoever. He could hear his grandmother snoring in the room beside his, and further down the hall, he heard the scratching of his godfather's quill against some parchment. Harry always worked late into the night whenever Teddy and his grandmother stayed over, which was quite frequently. Baby Lily, who was only just one, was snuffling oddly in her nursery, and he could hear Ginny bustling around downstairs helping Kreacher tidy up.

There were muted voices coming from the room that five year old James and three year old Albus shared, and Teddy grinned to himself at the thought of the two of them plotting. It was a nice, distracting sound, and he desperately needed to be distracted. He was nervous, more nervous than he had ever been before, because tomorrow was going to be his very first trip to Platform 9 ¾. Tomorrow, Teddy was going to Hogwarts.

And that meant he was growing up, which was really good, in his opinion, if a little bit scary. Harry had told him so many stories about Hogwarts, and all the mischief he got up to back in his days as a student. It sounded like one gigantic adventure, and Teddy was definitely the adventurous type.

The only problem with Hogwarts was that it would mean a whole three months before he saw Victoire again. Teddy loved new places, but he had never been anywhere new without Vicky at his side. And he was going to have to be at Hogwarts for a whole two years without her.

He sighed and rolled over in his bed once more.

"Teddy?"

A very quiet voice called Teddy's name from the doorway, and he pushed himself up onto his pillows to see a small girl with wide blue eyes and waist length strawberry blonde hair standing in her Minnie Mouse nightdress with one hand on his door handle.

"Hey, Victoire," Teddy whispered back. Victoire had asked Harry and Ginny if she could stay over during the night and travel to King's Cross with her best friend the next morning, in order to see him off properly.

"Teddy... I couldn't sleep." She looked at her friend mournfully.

"Me either," he sighed, patting the bed for Victoire to come and join him. She obliged, having to use his proffered hand to help haul herself up onto his high mattress. Teddy was quite tall for eleven years old, and he could manage the distance easily, but tiny little Victoire didn't even come up to his shoulder yet.

"I don't want you to go to Hogwarts tomorrow," Victoire told him with a note of accusation in her voice. Teddy watched as she pouted, her lower lip jutting out. She always pulled that expression when she couldn't get her own way, and Teddy privately thought it was adorable. She looked like a sad puppy, and she would always win a fight if she pulled that face.

Unfortunately, Teddy didn't get a say in the whole Hogwarts thing.

"I don't want to go without you," he confessed, as Victoire shuffled closer to him in order to rest her head on his shoulder.

"I'll have nobody to talk to," Victoire muttered. Teddy frowned into her huge sapphire eyes.

"No, you'll have Dominique, won't you?" he pointed out. Victoire grimaced.

"But she's only seven! She's _two years younger_ than me!"

"_You're_ two years younger than _me_, and you're my best friend," Teddy objected. Victoire narrowed her eyes.

"But that's different!" she declared in a whisper.

"How?" Teddy shot back.

"Because you're older than me! She's younger!"

Teddy could not formulate a response to this, so he just stuck out his tongue and rolled his brown eyes towards the ceiling. Victoire giggled, but the humour faded to a look of wistful sadness.

"I'm going to really really miss you, Teddy-bear."

"I'll miss you more, Vicky." Teddy tentatively held out his arms for a hug, and Victoire snuggled into his embrace gladly. She wouldn't get much more time with Teddy this year.

"Which house do you think you'll be in?" she asked, sounding suddenly sleepy. He pondered her question for a moment, tugging on a lock of his turquoise hair with the hand that wasn't tucked around Victoire.

"Um... I don't know, Vic."

Victoire let out a small sigh. "I think you'll be in Gryffindor."

"Why?" Teddy murmured, interested.

"Because..." She wriggled in his arms slightly to get comfier. "You're really brave. Much, much braver than me. You don't even mind spiders, and _Uncle Ron_ is scared of them!"

Teddy blushed at the compliment, a smile creeping onto his face when he thought about Ron's scream of terror when he saw a spider in Hugo's cot two days ago. He sounded like a banshee.

"I bet I'm not brave enough for Gryffindor though," he said quietly. "You'll be in Ravenclaw when you go, Vicky. You're super clever."

"You are too brave enough! And I hope so. I like blue."

Teddy looked deep into her sparkling cobalt eyes. "I like blue, too," he decided.

"You don't like reading, so I don't think you'll be in Ravenclaw, even though you're smart. And you're not horrible, so you won't be in Slytherin. And I don't think you'll be in Hufflepuff, because you're a bit lazy."

Teddy opened his mouth to protest to the last part of her ramble, but Victoire continued to talk over him.

"And Gryffindors are strong and brave and what's that word that means nice to girls? Shiv... Shovel..."

"Chivalrous," mumbled Teddy, feeling the colour rising in his cheeks again.

"Yeah, that. And you're all those things, I think. You're nice to girls, obviously, because I'm a girl and you're nice to me."

Teddy's face was burning. He wasn't used to so many compliments from anyone, let alone Victoire. She usually teased him.

"I mean," she continued. "Even when I get cross and I punch you, you never ever hit me back, and I asked Daddy why and he told me it's because you're a gentleman. And that's what being shovelrous means."

"Chivalrous," Teddy corrected automatically.

"Whatever." Victoire shrugged in her usually careless way.

"Vicky... tomorrow..." Teddy bit his lip, considering what he was going to say very carefully. He didn't want to offend her.

"What?" she mumbled.

"Don't... don't cry, when I go away."

She angled her head up a little to glare at him fiercely.

"I won't cry. I'm not little anymore!" She made a disgusted noise. Teddy hid a grin.

"Okay, just as long as you don't," he continued, relieved that he had gotten his request out of the way.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you want me to cry?" The question took Teddy aback so much that he couldn't think of an excuse in time. He accidentally blurted out the truth.

"Because if you cry, I'll cry. And I don't want to cry on my first day!"

Victoire looked up at him seriously, and then smile tiredly to herself about something. Teddy had no idea what she was thinking, but guessed it was probably something mocking about him.

"Okay, Teddy, I extra promise." She yawned widely. "I'm tired."

"Alright." Teddy began to release her from his hug slowly, but she clung on to his arms.

"Teddy..." Victoire gave her friend a coy smile. "Can I stay in here? When I go out into my room again, I won't be able to sleep without you there."

Teddy pretended to look a little miffed as he made a show of thinking it over. He couldn't say yes straight away, otherwise he would look really pathetic. And well, even though she was only Victoire, she was a _girl_.

"Sure, you can sleep in here with me." Teddy pretended to give in to her pleading expression, and she beamed in satisfaction, climbing under the covers beside her best friend in his Holyhead Harpies pyjamas.

Teddy lay back down on his pillow, and Victoire instantly wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her face to his shoulder.

"Night, Teddy," she whispered into the semi-darkness. Teddy stared up at the picture on the wall, as he always did whenever he slept in this room. It was his mother and father, she with bright pink hair, waving energetically out of the frame, and he grinning ruefully down at her, with one arm casually slung over her shoulders. He wondered briefly which house they would want him to be in. His dad was a Gryffindor, but his mum was a Hufflepuff. Would they be happy no matter what?

He really hoped he could make them proud. After all the nice things Vicky had said to him... he blushed again at the thought. Surely they were watching him now?

He wondered if they would mind that Victoire Weasley was his best friend. He didn't think so. His grandma loved Vicky almost as much as Teddy did.

Loved... he hadn't thought that before. He supposed he did love her really, as much as he loved Harry or his grandmother. Maybe even more.

"Night, Victoire... love you," he breathed into her ear, fluttering the strands of her reddish blonde hair.

She was already asleep.


	2. Victoire's First Day

Victoire couldn't sleep.

Tomorrow, she was going to Hogwarts for the first time, and she was terrified. Teddy often told her stories about the castle and the people within it. While she had found it exciting over the summer, she was really anxious now. In every story, the castle just sounded so big... there was always somewhere where Teddy hid or got lost, and he would grin and joke about it, but it was alright for him, he was in third year as off tomorrow...

She didn't want to tell Teddy that she was scared, or that she was considering hiding under a rock and not bothering to get onboard the Hogwarts Express at all tomorrow. He was so excited about her coming at last, about having his best friend to explore and get into trouble with. Victoire wished she could be as excited, but the worrying was eclipsing any good feelings she had. It had gotten to the point where she even considered crawling into one of the particularly small hiding places at Grimmauld Place and pretending she'd ran away.

The whole family was staying at The Burrow for the last day of summer, and Rosie and Al had just about talked Teddy's ears off about which house they wanted to be in, and why Teddy shouldn't have chosen Muggle Studies as one of his new subjects.

"You know all about muggles!" Rosie had squeaked in protest, and Al had nodded along to whatever she said, as was the norm.

"But I want to. Stop telling me what to do Rosie-Posie or I might have to tickle you," Teddy had said. She hadn't heeded his warning, so he had proceeded to tickle her until she cried with laughter. Everyone in Victoire's family adored Teddy, and it was easy to see why, what with his cheerful grin and perpetual good moods. Teddy was never concerned about anything.

That's why he was a Gryffindor, she supposed. He was a lot tougher than her.

But Victoire knew that if she told Teddy she was scared, he would worry about her, and she didn't want that. He was so chuffed; it seemed such a shame to spoil it.

She could talk to Dom, she supposed, but she was only nine, and she probably wouldn't be very helpful. Victoire hadn't been helpful when Teddy had been worrying about starting school.

"Vic, are you still awake?" Teddy's voice close by her ear made her jump. She hadn't realised he had snuck into her room. It was pitch-black, and she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, so she had no idea how Teddy had managed to negotiate around the junk littering the floor of Victoire's room without making a noise.

"Teddy, is that you?" she checked, wondering if she was actually dreaming. Teddy cropped up in her dreams more and more these days.

"Yeah, course it's me! Scoot over," he instructed, and she felt the mattress dip where he threw himself onto it, pulling the covers up over his legs.

"What're you doing in here?" Victoire asked. She immediately felt better with Teddy nearby, as if he could somehow give her some of his courage.

"Can't sleep, I'm too excited! Can you believe you're coming to Hogwarts tomorrow! McGonagall's apparently got some singing troll choir in to welcome the first years, or that's what Benjy Wood told me, but I reckon he was probably having me on, because trolls don't really sing, do they? They sort of point and grunt, so I doubt we'd all want to listen to that! I can't wait to get back; it will be so much fun! Oh, Vic, you've got to come to Quidditch practice! Wait until you see how good the Gryffindor team is; Kevin promised that he wasn't even going to bother holding tryouts again this year, because he says we're way too good! And I will get you on a broom eventually, Vicky... oh, and tomorrow evening I'll show you the giant squid if you want... Vic, is something wrong?" Teddy stopped rambling when he saw the shocked expression on his friend's face.

"I... I... I don't want to go to Hogwarts anymore!" Victoire blurted. Teddy's face fell, and she instantly felt guilty for ruining his mood.

"Why not?" he asked in an injured tone.

"Because... because... I... I'm scared," she admitted.

"Vicky, I was scared when I went," Teddy consoled her, patting the top of her head – it was the first part of her he found in the dark. "You get over it pretty quickly."

"What if... what if I end up in Slytherin? Or what if the hat can't sort me at all? What if I sit there for hours and hours and McGonagall tells me to go home, because I'm not magic enough?" she fretted.

To Victoire's astonishment, Teddy laughed. "Vic, you've already got your letter to Hogwarts, so you know you're magic enough. And do you remember the hair fiasco? You were trying to turn your hair blue like mine, and you accidentally set the sofa on fire. As for being in Slytherin... are you serious? You don't have a mean bone in your body. There's no chance!"

He draped one arm around her shoulders and squeezed her reassuringly.

"And Hogwarts is really cool. Especially Defence Against The Dark Arts. Look what Harry taught me to do in one of his lectures."

Before Victoire could remind him about the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, Teddy pulled out his wand.

"Lumos," he whispered, and his wand tip lit up.

"Wow!" Victoire whispered, so caught up in the display of Teddy's magic that she momentarily forgot about the law forbidding him to do it.

"And watch this... this is way cooler. I'll teach you soon, but it's apparently really advanced, and Harry had to spend aaages teaching us, and even then, I was the only one that managed it."

He looked determinedly into Victoire's face, and she felt herself blush under the intensity of his gaze.

"Expecto patronum!" he hissed, and something silver shot out of the end of Teddy's wand. Victoire watched, wide-eyed, as the silvery vapour twisted into the shape of a large hawk, which looked sternly at the pair before dissolving into nothingness.

"See?" Teddy asked gleefully, taking in Victoire's impressed look with a grin of satisfaction. "If you don't go to Hogwarts, you'll never be able to do that!"

"That was really cool," Victoire mumbled. "How did you do it?"

Teddy cocked his head to the side as he considered. "Well, you just sort of think of a really happy thing, and concentrate on it. Then you say expecto patronum, and voila! You get a patronus. Everyone's looks different, apparently. Harry did his in class, it's a stag. Ron helped out too; his was a terrier or something like that.

"What does it do?" Victoire asked interestedly.

"It wards off Dementors." Teddy shrugged. "And Lethifolds, according to Harry."

"I wonder what mine will be like..." Victoire mused, pursing her lips. Teddy watched her without comment, unthinkingly drinking in every part of her face. He'd been doing that for a while now.

"That was the first time I ever made it into an animal," Teddy admitted. "The last time, it was just silver smoke."

Victoire looked pleased that he had confessed this to her. She smiled widely at him, before asking another question.

"What memory did you think of in class?"

"Um... the first snitch I ever caught in a Quidditch match. Everyone was cheering..." Teddy trailed off in reminiscence, a triumphant grin on his face.

"But it wasn't strong enough?" Victoire prompted. His smile vanished.

"No."

"Then what did you think about just then?" she asked. Oddly, Teddy opened his mouth, turned bright pink and closed it again.

"Er..."

"Teddy...? What was it? I don't care if it's stupid..." she cajoled him eagerly. Teddy's blush deepened.

"I... um..." he stuttered.

"Oh, just tell me!" she sighed impatiently.

"Well... I just thought about you," he mumbled. Victoire frowned.

"What about me?" she asked.

"Noth-nothing in particular... just you." His face was now a boiling scarlet colour.

"I thought it had to be a memory." There was something almost accusatory about her tone.

"So did I," he confessed. "But then I thought about you, and... maybe it just has to be a happy thought..." he trailed off again, staring at his wand and determinedly avoiding any eye contact with Victoire. She had never seen Teddy blush so much in his life.

"I like being your happy thought," she decided, grinning at her friend. "I bet if I could do it, I'd think of the time when we went to Diagon Alley to get your wand, do you remember? And you tried nearly every single one in Mr Ollivander's shop! Your face was so funny..." She grinned at the memory.

"Yeah, I guess..." Teddy mumbled, his face slowly returning to normal colour.

"Teddy, won't you get into awful trouble for using magic outside of school?" Victoire asked.

Teddy grinned widely, exposing all of his teeth. "Nope!"

"Why?" she demanded, disgruntled that there seemed to be one rule for Teddy and another for the rest of the wizarding world.

"Because the Trace only shows you _where_ magic is being used, not who by! Harry told me that at the same time as he gave me the Marauder's Map. He made me promise not to show that to James, actually, so can you please make sure that he doesn't find out?"

"It's like he's deliberately trying to get you into trouble!" Victoire snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"He is." Teddy shrugged indifferently. "But so what?"

Victoire couldn't think of a response, so she asked a different question.

"So does that mean when there are grown-up wizards around...?"

"Yup. If you do magic, the Ministry think it's them," Teddy declared.

"That's... wicked!" Victoire's grin was almost identical to Teddy's.

"Do you still not want to go to Hogwarts, Vic?" he asked her, concerned. Victoire considered. After what she had just heard, how could she not want to go?

"No, I don't _want_ to go... I _have_ to go!" she squealed excitedly, and Teddy laughed.

"Are you tired yet? Cause I am." She watched as Teddy stifled a yawn.

"A bit," Victoire muttered, her eyelids feeling heavier than they had before. "Want to stay here?" she asked hopefully. Teddy smiled.

"If you insist," he sighed, rolling his eyes. She wondered when he would stop pretending that the idea bothered him.

"I do," Victoire replied, snuggling down into her covers.

Teddy shuffled further down the bed so that his head was on her pillow, and flicked his wand.

"Nox," he whispered, and they were plunged into darkness.

"Cool!" Victoire said.

"Night, Vic."

Victoire lay awake for a few minutes, just thinking. Teddy's light snores were like a soothing rumble in her ear. She was so lucky to have him as her best friend. He always cheered her up... it was daft for her to not want to tell him she was upset.

And she was his thought when he made a patronus! She grinned to herself. She wasn't sure why, but this thought pleased her more than anything else had, even more than seeing Teddy's magic had done. Victoire thought about it, and realised that all of her own happy memories were somehow connected to Teddy.

Well, he _was_ her best friend.

"Night night Teddy," she whispered. "I love you lots."

Teddy snored.


	3. OWLs and NEWTs

Teddy rolled onto his back again, listening to the deep snores of Angus, Benjy and Connor in the beds surrounding his own. He envied them. They could all sleep on a knife edge, no matter how much stress they were under. N.E. were starting tomorrow, and Teddy thought he might crack under the pressure. For him, failure was not an option. If he didn't pass, he could kiss goodbye to his place in the Auror Academy, whether his godfather was head of the department or not.

A thump close by his head made him jump and he rocketed upwards into a sitting position.

"Ow! Ah, crap, I stubbed my toe!" That voice was impossible for Teddy to not recognise.

"Victoire... what the hell are you doing in here? No, wait, how did you get in here in the first place?" he demanded in a whisper, so as not to wake up the others.

"How do you think? I told the Fat Lady the password and then walked up the stairs." Once again, the sarcastic tones of Teddy's best friend rang out in the pitch darkness.

"But you're in Ravenclaw..." he protested.

"Well done, with brains like that you could be a troll." He suddenly felt Victoire's hand grasping his shoulder as she groped around in the darkness to find the edge of the bed.

"What is that that I'm touching?" she asked warily.

"My shoulder," Teddy answered. He was electrically aware that she was touching his bare skin, though he was determinedly trying to ignore the swooping sensation in his stomach.

"Right, okay," she said methodically, her voice sounding slightly closer. "Shift up."

"But..." he began, but she was already pushing him over to one side of his bed so that she could climb in. "Vic, I don't even have a shirt on!"

"Oh, please, Teddy! As if I care!" she scoffed, and Teddy tried to pretend that her comment wasn't a slight blow to his ego.

She slid under the covers beside him, and he instantly felt awkward. It had been four years since they'd shared a bed like this, and Victoire was not eleven anymore.

Teddy was finding the fact that Victoire had grown up quite difficult to ignore. These days, he was finding a lot of things about her difficult to ignore... whether it was about how pretty she looked in her new dress robes or how infectious her smile was whenever he made her laugh. He always felt a sense of accomplishment when he made Victoire laugh.

It wasn't normal for her best friend to notice when she got new clothes, or that her eyes were precisely five different shades of blue. Not if the best friend in question was a notoriously unobservant 17 year old boy in the first place...

"Earth calling Teddy?" Victoire said jokingly, prodding him with her sharp fingernails in his kidney. He squirmed in discomfort.

"Sorry Vicky, I think I zoned out."

"No kidding," she said wryly. Teddy fought a smile. The girl was _too_ sarcastic sometimes.

"Why are you here again?" Teddy asked. Victoire made an offended noise.

"If you don't want me here, I'll go..." She twisted away from him, but he seized her by the elbow and held her firmly in place.

"No! That's not what I meant," he assured her. Why did she have to be so touchy?

"Okay, well, to be honest, I couldn't sleep," she admitted. Teddy ran his hand down her arm until he could thread his fingers through her own. He thought he felt her shiver as he did that, but he dismissed the gesture as his own imagination.

"Nightmares?" he asked.

"Nerves," she corrected.

"Oh, yes. The dreaded exam season is upon us." Teddy pulled a face, and though she couldn't see it, Victoire laughed.

"You're making a stupid face, aren't you?" she guessed.

"You know me too well," Teddy replied, though the thought made him feel smug for some reason.

"Just well enough, I think," Victoire disagreed.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, and every so often, Teddy noticed Victoire's arm twitching beside his. Was she uncomfortable? She didn't say anything about it, they merely sat holding hands.

"Teddy, I'm going to fail," Victoire sighed.

"Shut up, you will not. You're off-the-charts smart, and you know it. Stop fishing for compliments," he teased affectionately.

"But what if I want to fish for compliments?" she joked.

"We could be here all night," Teddy replied.

"Why... what would you say?" she asked coyly. Teddy swore mentally. Why did his stupidly oversized mouth have to land him in these dig-yourself-a-hole situations? Especially around Victoire.

"Just... you've kind of got it all really. Brains, wit, beauty, and the personality to match."

"Beauty?" she asked.

"Yeah," he continued carelessly, not processing his own thoughts. "You're gorgeous, Vic. Nice hair, killer smile, cute freckles... you're just amazing."

Victoire did not reply for a long time, and Teddy began to feel a little nervous.

"Vic?" he checked to make sure she was still alive.

"What was that last part?" she whispered. Teddy gulped.

"Er... you have cute freckles?" he suggested.

"You called me amazing." There was the strangest emotion laced through her tone, but Teddy hadn't the slightest idea what it could be.

"Is that bad?" he asked, confused.

"No... but you've never told me that."

"Just because I haven't said it doesn't mean it isn't true. You _are_ amazing."

"You always mean what you say, Teddy," Victoire mumbled, and I could almost feel the heat of the blush I knew had risen on her cheeks.

"Exactly."

"So... I've never heard you say that to anyone."

Teddy squirmed a little, feeling like he'd slipped up. "What's your point?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Victoire replied smoothly. "Just... thank you."

"That's okay," Teddy dismissed.

"You have cool hair," she complimented him, her breath tickling his shoulder. "You're pretty awesome, generally."

Teddy was glad it was too dark for Victoire to see him blush this time.

"Are we gonna go to sleep?"he asked abruptly.

"What do you mean?" Victoire responded.

"Well, I assume, judging on past experiences, you were going to ask if you could sleep in my bed tonight. If memory serves, that's how this works." Teddy grinned into the darkness.

"Well... the Ravenclaw common room is all the way downstairs... and it _is_ late..." She had already settled down onto his pillow, he realised, as he felt her hair tickling his arm.

"You're lucky I'm feeling generous. As always." He pushed himself further down the bed, so that he was lying nose-to-nose with Victoire. His heart thumped too quickly at the close proximity.

"What would I do without you, Teddy?" she muttered sleepily, her minty breath fanning across his face.

"Maybe fall asleep in your own bed for once?" he suggested dryly.

"I could never sleep without my Teddy-bear to make me feel better," she joked, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly.

"You know, the boys are going to wake up in the morning and jump to the wrong conclusions," Teddy pointed out. He felt Victoire shrug.

"Let them. I don't care," she replied quietly, pressing her ear to Teddy's racing heart.

"Okay then, as long as you don't hold it against me when they do."

He almost heard Victoire rolling her eyes. "Goodnight, Theodore."


	4. The Anniversary

The moonlight danced across the water, and Victoire could see Teddy's silhouette gazing up at the bright, full moon. She worried whenever he did this. Seeing Teddy staring at the moon could only mean one thing... he was thinking about his father.

Her heart bled for him, it really did. Victoire was so close to her own father – they did everything together during the holidays. She was always her father's princess, and the idea of not knowing him... it would break her if she thought about it for too long.

Teddy didn't even remember his parents, but he was forced to endure stories about their heroic sacrifice, hear over and over again about how they laid down their lives for the greater good. He'd confessed to Victoire that it made him feel proud, hearing how noble and brave they were, but that every time he heard their names it was like a knife in the ribs, because everyone seemed to know them, everyone knew everything about them except Teddy, their own son.

It hurt Victoire to see her best friend in pain, but there was nothing she could say. Of course... was he even her best friend anymore? They spent most of their time together, but ever since that Quidditch match last year, when Teddy had collided with Francis Chessler and fallen forty feet... she felt differently about him. It was such a subtle change at first, she wasn't even aware of it. She had spent two days straight holding his hand while he was unconscious in the hospital wing, and all she'd been able to think about was how relieved she was that he was okay. That part was understandable.

What wasn't understandable was the way she had been transfixed by his breathing, or the way when his eyes finally opened, she felt as though her stomach was doing back flips as his dark irises made contact with hers and he flashed her his typical impish grin. She didn't understand how he could still be Teddy, but how she noticed his unique sandalwood-y smell, and the way his eyes would light up when he laughed...

The chilly air pressed in on Victoire as she stood, fretting. She shivered almost imperceptibly, and started forwards, intent on cheering Teddy up.

"Hello, Vicky."

Victoire halted in her tracks, shocked. How on earth had Teddy known that she was there? She had been so quiet...

"Can't sleep?" he continued, and she could hear a shadowy imitation of humour in his voice.

"No. You either?" she replied, folding herself onto the ground beside him.

"Not so much." There was a pause, and Victoire could tell that Teddy was struggling for something else to say. He was probably debating whether to tell her what he was thinking or not. As if she couldn't guess.

"Aren't you cold?" she decided to ask, seeing the goosebumps on his arms. He wasn't even wearing his cloak, and the sleeves of his school uniform were pushed up, leaving his forearms exposed to the elements. Just looking at him made her cold, Victoire thought, pulling her own cloak tighter around herself.

"No. Should I be?" he replied absently, his mind a million miles away.

"It's freezing, Teddy," Victoire pointed out, suppressing a shiver.

"Oh." He pulled his gaze away from the moon and met Victoire's concerned gaze. Her breath caught and she was once again forced to remind herself that she was being stupid, that he was _Teddy_, for Salazar's sake! She shouldn't think of him that way...

"Happy birthday, Vic," he said eventually, and Victoire blinked, surprised. It took her a full minute to remember that it was two hours into May 2nd, her birthday.

_The anniversary of Teddy's parents death..._ Victoire remembered, her heart twisting painfully. That was why he was in such a pensive mood.

"Um... thanks," she sighed. Teddy's birthday, a month before Victoire's own, was always cause for celebration, doubly so this year, as it marked the end of O.W.L and N.E.W.T exams for the both of them. But neither of them ever felt like celebrating on Victoire's birthday. There were too many things for Teddy to mourn.

"How does it feel to be sixteen?" he asked, without much enthusiasm.

"No different from being fifteen," Victoire decided. "Except that you're expected to grow up a bit more."

Teddy's smile was half-hearted, but it made Victoire's stomach do a backflip as much as his usual grin did.

"Don't you want to grow up, Vicky?" he asked gently. Victoire pondered this. Yes, she wanted to grow up, to be treated like an adult... especially by Teddy. Being two years older than her had never been a problem, but now... at eighteen he seemed eons older than she was. Only when he was in a serious mood, though. But when he was feeling that way, the age gap between the two seemed to expand, growing like a wall between them.

"I want to grow up. But not this quickly." That was the only answer she could give without embarrassing herself.

"It does seem fast, doesn't it?" he agreed, holding out his arms so that she could curl up into them. She accepted the offer gladly, burying her face in his chest. He stroked her hair absent-mindedly, and Victoire fought back another shiver, although that one was not because of the cold.

"Do you miss them, Teddy?" she murmured.

He knew who she was talking about. "Yes. That sounds really stupid, though, doesn't it? How can you miss people you never knew?"

Victoire looked up at him, pulling back a little so that she could stare right into his eyes.

"It's not stupid, Teddy. Missing something that you wish you had is only natural. You feel deprived."

"You have all the answers, don't you, Vic?" he laughed gently.

"Not to my own problems. But to yours, yeah." She smiled back at her best friend.

"What problems do you have?" he prompted, concern leaking into his expression. Victoire flushed slightly. She wasn't about to tell Teddy that her biggest problem was... well... that she thought she was falling in love with him. Yeah, that would go down well.

"They aren't important, not now."

"They're important to me," Teddy argued.

"Teddy, leave it. It doesn't matter."

He stared sternly at Victoire for a moment, and she quailed under the intensity of his gaze. His brown eyes seemed to pierce her soul.

"I have to tell you something." His voice was confidently quiet. Victoire's heartbeat fluttered a little. This sounded important.

"What's wrong?" she answered nervously.

"I..." Teddy sucked in a deep breath. "Vicky, I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied automatically. "So what were you going to tell me?"

Teddy stared at her like she was missing something incredibly obvious. Victoire frowned, confused.

"No, Vic. I'm in love with you. That's what I'm saying."

Victoire's chin practically hit the grass.

"What?" she gasped.

"Are you going to freak out about it?" he fretted, grabbing hold of her wrists as though he was expecting her to run away.

"I..."

"Look, just don't run away, okay, I know you don't feel the same way, it's fine! I just had to..."

"Teddy, are you insane!" she hissed. How could she not feel the same way?

"No! Look, I know it sounds crazy, and I know you weren't expecting it, but..."

"You've got that right!" Victoire laughed, looking at Teddy's desperate expression. Was he that oblivious to the way she felt about him, she wondered.

"Just, please still be my friend, I don't want this to come between us..." he pleaded.

"I can't be your friend because..." she started.

"No, Vic! Don't say that..."

"Teddy, SHUT UP!" she shouted, breathing heavily. Teddy fell silent instantly, watching her with fearful eyes. "Right," she said matter-of-factly. "I can't be your friend..." She covered his mouth with her hand when he showed every intention of interrupting her again. "Because I don't want to be your friend anymore. And the reason I don't want to be your friend is NOT because you love me. It's because I love you, too."

She removed her hand from Teddy's mouth, satisfied that she had communicated her point.

He gawped at her.

The next thing Victoire knew, Teddy's lips had crashed into hers, and the both of them had careered backwards into the grass. He kissed her euphorically, and she completely melted into his embrace, elated. She had been feeling guilty about dreaming about this moment for the past few months. And all for nothing.

Teddy loved her too.

They broke apart, both a little breathless, and Teddy rolled over in the grass so that Victoire could lie across his chest. She had a feeling that she would not be able to go back to her dormitory tonight.

Teddy was more than worth the bleary eyes she would have in the morning.


	5. Auror Exams

Teddy lounged against Victoire's legs as he read over his notes for one last time. It was such a relief that Victoire had finally left Hogwarts – two years without her had been nearly unbearable. The good news was, she was moving straight out of her dormitory and into Teddy's flat... with Bill and Fleur's blessing. They were ridiculously gleeful about it actually.

They were all packed into the Burrow's small living area, quite a feat, it had to be said. Victoire kept sneaking worried glances at her younger sister, who was pacing the cramped space frenetically. Dominique had been obsessively worrying about her O.W.L results for the past week now, and as she had been told that she would receive them today, she was beside herself with angst. Victoire was surprisingly mellow – she would be getting her N.E.W.T results at the same time, but she seemed completely unaffected. Teddy heard Dominique muttering a mix of expletives regarding her sister's laid-back, unruffled manner.

Teddy knew how Dominique felt. He was sitting the most important exam of his life tomorrow; his Auror exam. If he failed that... well, bang went his career plan. Unfortunately for him, he inherited his mother's clumsiness, as he was often told, and was dreading the stealth portion of the test.

Louis, Fred and James were not helping. The three fourteen year old boys had taken to building a house out of exploding snap cards, and at any moment the stack could erupt and singe everyone in a ten metre radius. Which was everyone currently in the room. Molly, their senior by one year, was sitting with a book open in her lap, and kept asking them politely and a little nervously to cut it out. They paid her no attention.

Rose and Albus were sitting in a corner with a friend of theirs that was staying at Grimmauld Place all summer, Scorpius Malfoy. It looked like the three of them were plotting something – they had their heads together, blond, black and red hair tangling in a small triangle, and they kept stealing furtive, calculating looks over at the older boys, whispering conspicuously.

Hugo, the Scamander twins and Lily were possibly the most distracting. Lily had decided that it would be fun for her to decorate the boys in face paint, and the result was a lot of squealing and giggling, and a colossal mess on the floor that Molly – the elder one, that is – would have to clean up later. Teddy grinned to himself as he imagined the expression on her face.

Well, she _did_ ask for grandchildren.

"Ted, are you okay?" Victoire leaned close to his ear to be heard. Her breath tickled his skin.

"I'm fine. Just a bit..."

"Worried?" she guessed, playing with a piece of his customary turquoise hair.

"Kind of, yeah," Teddy admitted.

"You'll be fantastic, honey, you know that." She was now rumpling up his hair with her palm distractedly as she spoke.

"Yeah, but what if I screw up one of the potions or something?" he fretted, chewing his thumbnail as he scanned his notes once more.

"Teddy Remus Lupin, you worry far too much!" Victoire tutted, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe you're right," he allowed, as she kissed him affectionately on the top of his head. There was a loud disruption at that moment as Fred suddenly shrieked as the card he had just placed on top of the careful stack set the whole thing off in a colossal eruption.

Molly flung her book in front of her face to shield herself as embers scattered everywhere, and thirteen year old Roxanne and Lucy, who had just entered the room sporting a pie of apple pie each, screeched and dived out of the way of the small blaze, Lucy hurtling behind the sofa, and Roxanne throwing herself into Teddy's lap. Her apple pie landed with spectacular accuracy – right on top of Teddy's head.

"Fred!" Fifteen shrill voices filled the room. Fred began to argue back, and the ensuing debate over where the blame lay nearly took the roof off with the sheer volume.

That is, until one much more intimidating voice sounded, slicing through the cacophonous babble. "Fred Weasley!"

A plump woman with greying red hair and an expression like a sabre-toothed tiger hurtled into the room with one hand on the hip of her blue flowery pinny and the other gripping her wand like an interrogator's light.

Silence fell absolutely and resoundingly. Fred gulped.

"Teddy, your hair's all sticky," Victoire murmured, trying futilely to brush some of the apple pie from his head.

That one sentence was enough to loosen the sudden tension in the room. Everyone took one look at Teddy, who was grinning sheepishly and trying to brush away his apple pie hat, and they all erupted into peals of delighted laughter. Even Molly Senior, who was about ready to put iron bars on her unruly grandson's bedroom window, softened and spluttered with laughter.

Victoire kissed Teddy's forehead gently. He was always good for a laugh.

***

"I can't sleep, Vic," Teddy murmured into the darkness, as Victoire snuggled in closer to his chest.

"I know, Ted, you're a terrible sleeper when you're nervous."

"I'm sorry, Miss I-got-six-'Oustandings'-in-my-N.E.."

Victoire laughed, still on a high from getting her results.

"Dominique got twelve 'Os'. She's a lot smarter than me," she reminded him.

"But at least she had the decency to be worried," Teddy pointed out. Victoire laughed another carefree laugh.

"Oh, Teddy... you'll be fine!" she sighed, running her index finger down his nose and tapping it playfully.

"But what if...?"

"What if what? What if you fail? You won't. But if you did, you could sit it again. What if you didn't do as well as you'd hoped? You'd get better."

"Vic, when did you become the sensible one?" he asked incredulously, drawing back from her to show his raised eyebrows.

"Um... I'm not sure... you've improved me, I guess," she whispered cheerily, pressing her face into his shoulder.

"What would I do without you?" Teddy mused, and he was genuinely curious, though Merlin forbid he ever had to find out.

"Explode. Like a big, angst-y volcano," she giggled.

Teddy looked down into her beautiful face, and a wave of sudden calm swept over him.

"Victoire... marry me."

There was a moment's silence where neither of them so much as breathed.

"What did you say?" she murmured, half-hopeful.

"Will you marry me?"

Victoire sprang up to face him. "Teddy..."

"Answer the question," he replied, working hard to keep the nervous shake out of his voice.

"Yes," she whispered, elated. "Yes, I'll marry you."

Teddy gave a whoop so loud that it echoed around the house, and dived on top of Victoire, pinning her to the mattress and kissing every inch of her face that he could reach.

"Teddy!" she laughed, kicking her legs in childish glee.

"I love you," he breathed in her ear, his grin visible even in the semi-darkness.

"I love you too." Victoire giggled again. "Are you still worried about your Auror exam?"

"I was never worried about my Auror exam," Teddy confessed.

Victoire frowned. "But you've been stressed for days..."  
"I'd been worrying about the right time to propose to you."

Victoire thought her face would split open from her Cheshire-cat grin. "You were worried?"

"Extremely," he admitted sheepishly, giving her a bashful smile.

"Teddy," Victoire murmured, stroking his cheek with the back of her hand. "You worry too much."

**A/N : If you've read A Scorpius Sting, my other fic, then you'll know that Teddy passes his Auror exams. And marries Victoire. Yay! If you haven't... well, you do now! Oh, and sorry it took so long to update. This is not the end yet! Bear with me :D**

**PJ x**


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